Goats' milk packed fresh every day for distribution to supermarkets throughout the country

Dairy

The dairy at St Helen’s Farm has received constant investment over the years to ensure we stay at the highest level of hygiene standards and efficiency. It is a modern dairy where we process fresh goats’ milk into a range of products for distribution through some of the country’s most well known supermarkets.

All the fresh British goats’ milk from St Helen’s Farm and our supplying farms is kept here in large chilled tanks prior to pasteurising. This milk is packed fresh every day into litre cartons and milk is often taken from the goats one day and on the supermarket shelf the following morning.

The milk is also separated, which means that we extract the cream from the milk. This cream is then added back at either 1.6% for semi-skimmed milk or 3.6% for whole milk, whilst none at all is used for skimmed milk, which is virtually fat free. Surplus cream is used to make delicious goats' butter by churning through a rotating stainless steel drum until it is just the right consistency. It is also packed as double cream into small pots for retail sale.

St Helen’s Farm natural yogurt is made with fresh goats’ milk, naturally thickened by taking out some of the water and without the need for starches or other thickeners. Our low fat yogurt contains less then 2% fat and is an alternative to our whole milk natural. It is a blend of fresh goats' milk and tapioca starch to give it a thick texture. Both are probiotic yogurts which are fermented overnight before being packed into large or small sized plastic pots.

Fresh goats’ milk is sent to our cheesemaking dairy in the county of Somerset. Called Cricketer Farm, they have been making our Cheddar style cheese for more than 10 years and have a wealth of experience in making quality cheeses since the 1940’s.

The laboratory at St Helen’s Farm is well equipped to test the quality of the milk and our products to make sure it meets the required standards and is safe and nutritious to eat. Extensive testing takes place on the raw milk, the dairy equipment and the finished product and quality records are carefully maintained and checked to show that we meet all regulatory procedures.

St Helen's Farm fully meets the requirements of the SALSA standard, which is a nationally recognised food safety certification scheme. This independent organisation audits suppliers such as ourselves to ensure that we produce safe and legal food and drink products and are fully committed to meeting the SALSA standard that is widely acepted by all the major UK retail and food service providers.

We always endeavour to operate to the highest standards of hygiene on the farm and in the dairy because we know this is absolutely vital to the quality of our products.